STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Minnesota company that insures student loans is offering one year of free credit monitoring to 3.3 million people, including an undetermined number of Staten Islanders, after safes containing personal information were stolen from its headquarters last month.

Authorities said the 650 CDs and floppy discs which held data for current and former Education Credit Management Corp. (ECMC) customers nationwide do not appear to have been compromised.

The media were recovered within 48 hours of the theft in suburban Minneapolis on the March 20-21 weekend. The information included borrowers' names, addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers. The CDs and discs did not have bank accounts or other financial information.

Dave Hawn, an ECMC spokesman, said today that about 153,600 of the customers were from New York. He did not have a breakdown of Staten Islanders.

The CDs and discs were inside two 200-pound safes. Minneapolis police found the opened safes March 22 in an alley. The media, still in their original packaging, were found in the trash nearby.

One suspect was arrested and police have said they don't believe identity theft was the motive for the heist. The suspect never worked at ECMC.

Hawn said ECMC has sent letters to all impacted borrowers. The letters include details on signing up for free credit-monitoring and protection services through Experian, a leading national credit-protection agency.

"It would appear there's no real risk of data being compromised, [but] we're still committed with going forward with Experian's services," said Hawn. "We're still encouraging borrowers to activate that service."

Those receiving the letters may be puzzled by the ECMC name.

Hawn said the nonprofit company is the guarantor on loans that millions of current and former students actually obtained from Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo and other lenders.

According to its Web site, ECMC is one of the top 10 student loan guaranty agencies in the country. Founded 16 years ago, it insures about $11 billion in student loans.